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Mam phonology
Vowels Mam has 10 vowels, 5 short and 5 long:http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/enggra.html A Grammar of Mam, A Mayan Language, Nora C. England, University of Texas Press, page 33 *The Mid-central vowel is an allophone of short a, e and u that can occur in the syllable following a stressed long vowel. Like in many other Mayan languages, vowel length is contrastive, and short and long vowels have different phonemic values and are treated as separate vowels. The long versions the back vowels, /o/, /u/, /ɑ/ vowels, transcribed as oo, uu, and aa are slightly compressed and pronounced as /o͍ː/, /u͍ː/, and /ɑ͍ː/ respectively, being partially rounded. In the Todos Santos dialect the vowel structure is somewhat different. While /o/, /a/, and /u/ remain the same as in other varieties, short /e/ has become the diphthong /ɛi/, an audio example of this can be heard here: In the Todos Santos dialect, the long vowels (distinguished by the doubling of the letter) have evolved into separate sounds altogether. Long /aː/ has become /ɒ/, long /oː/ has become /øː/ and long /uː/ has become /yː/. In some dialects vowels interrupted by stop have evolved into individual phonemes themselves, for example in Todos Santos dialect /oʔ/ represented by o' has evolved into /ɵʏˀ/ and /oʔo/ represented by o'o has evolved into /ɵ'ʉ/. Consonants Mam has 27 consonants, including the glottal stop: /ɓ/ is realized as βʼ word-finally and when part of a consonant cluster in many dialects. In the Todos Santos dialect it is pronounced as v as part of a consonant cluster and as βv̻ word finally. : Examples: tzeb' tsɛβʼ goat, kbon kβʼɤŋ small table. In the Todos Santos dialect, tseb' is tsɛiβv̻ and kbon is kvoŋ small table. /p/ is realized as pʰ word-finally and word initially, p elsewhere, ɸ in a consonant cluster and before short i, o, and u. It is pronounced as ɸʰ word finally in certain dialects. f is an interchangeable pronunciation of ɸ. : Examples: piich pʰiːt͡ʃ bird, txkup ʈ͡ʂkʰɯpʰ or ʈ͡ʂkʰɯɸʰ animal , ptz'an pʰt͡sʼaŋ or ɸʰt͡sʼaŋ sugarcane. /ch/ has evolved from /tʃ/ to /sʃ/ in most Mexican dialects and some northern Guatemalan dialects. Sometimes the /t/ sound is still lightly pronounced before the stressed /sʃ/ sound. : Example: choot tʃʰoːtʰ weeds has evolved into sʃøːtʰ or tsʃoːtʰ /t/ is realized as tʰ word-finally and before another consonant, t elsewhere. : Examples: ta'l taʔl̥ juice, soup, ch'it t͡ʃʼɪtʰ bird, q'ootj ʛoːtʰχ dough /k/ is realized as kʰ word-finally and before another consonant, k elsewhere. : Examples: paaki'l pɑːkɪʔl̥ butterfly, xtook ʂtʰoːkʰ staff, kjo'n kʰχɤʔŋ cornfield /w/ can be pronounced ʋ, v, v̥ or β word initially, w, ʍ ʋ following a consonant, and ʋ, v, v̻ʰ or fʰ word finally. It is freely variable between w v ʋ v̥ in all other positions with ʋ being the most common pronunciation. In the Todos Santos dialect, /w/ is realized as either v or ʋ word-initially or between vowels and before another consonant, as ʍ following a consonant and as v̥ word finally. : Examples: waaj ʋɑːχ, vɑːχ, v̥ɑːχ, or βɑːχtortilla, twon twɤŋ, tʍɤŋ, tʋɤŋ introversion, lew lɛʋ, lɛv lɛv̥ʰ lɛfʰ care. /q/ is realized as qʰ word-finally and before another consonant, q elsewhere. : Examples: muuqin' muːqɪŋ tortilla, aaq ɑːqʰ honeycomb, qloolj qʰɺoːlχ obscurity /tʼ/ is realized interchangeably as tʼ and ɗ word-initially and -finally, after a vowel or before l. : Examples: t'rikpuul tʼɾɪkʰɸuːl̥ ~ ɗɾɪkʰpuːl̥ to jump, ch'uut t͡ʃʼuːtʼ ~ t͡ʃʼuːɗ something sharp-pointed : Examples: t'ut'an tʼɯtʼaŋ ~ ɗɯɗaŋ wet, wit'li vɪtʼli ~ vɪɗli seated squatting /n/ is realized as ŋ before velar- and uvular consonants and word-finally, as ɲ before j and as m before /ɓ/ and /p/, n elsewhere. : Examples: nim nɪm much, juun χuːŋ one, q'ankyoq ʛaŋkʲɤqʰ thunder : Examples: saajel sɑːŋχel̥ sent, nyuxh ɲɯʃ my godfather : Examples: qanb'ax qamɓaʂ foot, npwaaqe mpwɑːqɛ my money /l/ is realized as l̥ word-finally, ɺ before short vowels and after plosives, bilabial, aveolar and retroflex consonants and l elsewhere. : Examples: luux luːʂ cricket, lo'l ɺoʔl̥ to eat fruits, wlat vɺatʰ stiff. /ky/ is realized as kɕʲ in front of another consonant and kɕʰ word finally. It is pronounced as kʲ in all other instances. : Examples: kyja'tzan kɕʲχaʲʔtsʰaŋ, kyokleen kʲɤkleːŋ / ' / is realized as ʲʔ following /a/, /aa/, /e/, /ee/, /i/, /u/, /uu/ and /oo/. The standard pronunciation is simply ʔ after all vowels however in spoken speech ʲʔ is the common pronunciation. A similar trend can be seen in other Eastern Mayan languages. After /o/ it is pronounced as ʉʔ and after /ii/ it is pronounced simply as ʔ. Following consonants / ' / modifies each individual consonant differently as explained in the section above. In the Mam language every word must start with a consonant. In the current orthography initial / ' / is not written but if a word ever begins with a vowel, the word is treated as if it begin with a / ' /. The initial / ' / may be pronounced as either ʔ or ʡ in free variation. References